ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the utility of the self-as-doer in healthy, non-clinical populations. Health behavior change and maintenance are difficult, but the self-as-doer provides a motivational identity that can be used to overcome barriers to promote sustaining health behavior enactment. If the self-as-doer identity can predict physical activity behaviors because, as the self-as-doer theory suggests, doer identification activates a cognitive process which provides motivation for engaging in a behavior, then it likely to be easily transferred to other important healthy lifestyle behaviors. In addition to determining whether self-as-doer identity can predict physical activity behaviors beyond existing motivational constructs, the relationship between doer identity and exercise motivations, exercise identity, and self-efficacy for physical activity behaviors was also explored. In sum, the self-as-doer identity is related to diverse exercise motivations that align with more self-determined behaviors, but is arguably a distinct form of motivation for physical activity behaviors.
